'BEAVER BOOK OF HORROR'

Here is another great book I used to have when I was much younger, The beaver book of horror by Daniel Farson [grandson to Bram Stoker]. What especially attracted me to this book was this wonderful painted cover by Alan Lee, which extends to the back of the book too. I kind of love the innocence of the characters, even though the monsters look quite grusome, they also look innocent enough to just look at the book the children are reading. For some reason I can't find any pictures of this actual painting, even on websites about Alan Lee and his work.

The book itself covered a wide spectrum of subjects such as true stories about ghosts, vampires, werewolves etc, as well as people such as Vlad the Impaler, Countess Bathory, Rasputin etc. There is a look at the classic horror stories such as Dracula, Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, Frankenstein etc. An almost human section that looks at The Elephant Man, wolf children, The Lambton worm, etc. other sections include Horror on stage and screen and a guide to places of horror such as Translyvania, Haiti, Whitby, Highgate cemetery etc. This is a highly recommended read and has 16 pages of photos. 206 pages of grusome reading.

'HORROR BAGS' super horrid picture cards ad

Well here is another Horor Bags ad from 1976/77. This time for Super Horrid Picture cards, a set of six cards that form a big? scary 6inch square picture and on the back of the cards a spooky story about the Dracula character.
The ad artwork is a little cruder than the other ads featured in The Cobbwebbed room, although I quite like the picture of Dracula. This must of been one of the cheaper promotional items for Horror Bags. Now what is needed is advertisements for the serpents and stairs game and the vinyl swimming bag. If there is anyone that can provide scans of these or any others not featured all ready, please get in touch.
Thanks to neil for this contribution.

'MONSTERBACK' books

Of all the books on
monsters, ghosts,etc that are aimed at children, this set of books are certainly the best I have seen, not only do they have fantastic covers, but the stuff inside is just as impressive. I bought these from a shop called 'The book cellar', before it became 'The Works' back in the early 80's. The Monsterback series of books was first published in 1980 by Marshall Cavendish. The books covered a broad range of topics such as stories, frightening facts, games, projects etc. Illustrated throughout with fantastic artwork and photographs. Examples of the contents include: For the Vampires book - What is a vampire?, Curse of the undead, Vlad the Impaler, Make a Dracula's castle, The Croglin Vampire, How to tell a vampire, The film Dracula, what is blood, etc. MONSTER OR MAN? book - The Minotaur, Fiends and Fairies, The Gorgons, King Kong, Make a monster mask, The film monster, The Red death, Frakenstein's monster, etc. WEREWOLVES AND OTHER WEIRD CREATURES book - Legend of the werewolf, Wolfman, Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, Werewolf in film, Island of Dr.Moreau, Loup-Garou, Invisible man, Wolf boys, Wolves everywhere, etc. GHOSTS, GHOULS AND SPIRITS book - What is a ghost?, Things that go bump in the night, Film ghosts, The Brown lady, Sea ghosts, Ghosts of the Tower of London, Church ghosts, Canterville ghost, Theatre ghosts, etc.
These four books are certainly worth checking out, keep a look out for them, I am sure you will be able to get them at a reasonable price. A light, ghoulish read.

'THE BLACK BOX CLUB' audio magazine

Here is a great item that came out during the 1980's - A audio magazine on cassette. This was made and produced by Mark Phelps who also used to publish a Peter Cushing fanzine. 'The Black box club' was a very well put together audio magazine that mainly concentrated on Hammer and Amicus films and their makers. The first copy of the cassettes featured such items as an interview with 'Legend of the Werewolf' star David Rintoul, part 1 of a comedy story called "Attack of the killer wardrobe', 'Dr.Bedlam's bedtime terror tales', video Reviews, news, jingles, well wishes from famous people such as Geoffrey Bayldon, etc. The Black box club kind of had a feel of a radio show, very entertaining, and Mark Phelps was enthusiastic and funny, the black box club had a feel good feel to it, besides being informative. I only ever got round to buying this first issue, but years later when I wrote to Mark again, he sent me lots of flyers about other issues that he had made and he said that the quality was alot better this time. Take alook at the flyer above which tells you about the other editions of the Black box club that were available. Unfortunately I nether got round to ordering the rest of them and I lost contact with Mark.
Is there anyone else that remembers The Black Box Club? I would love to hear from you.

'HORROR' Pens

Here is a set of pens that came out during the 1980's, not sure exact year. As you can see from the photo they featured really nice artwork of Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, and a Werewolf [looks to be based on Curse of the Werewolf]. You could either buy the set as ball-point pens or fountain pens. Does anyone else remember these or bought them or have anything similiar they could share with the Cobwebbed room?

'Spooky ads for non spooky products'

Advertisers always find a
different way to promote
a product;sometimes play-
ing what is popular at the time, whats works well,what would works that
kind of fits in with the product etc. Horror, monsters, etc are no exception as you can see from these three examples of product advertising that were printed in British comics, of course aimed at children. The first is 'Fangs of Dracula' done as a comic strip advertising 'Signal' toothpaste; of course we have here the connection of Dracula and teeth/fangs with using toothpaste. The advert also has a book on horror and a pair of Dracula fangs that could be sent for as promotional offer for Signal. The next advert for Kellogg's Frosties also is done as a comicstrip and features Tony the Tiger spending a night in a Haunted House, which turns out to be a dream, is Frosties saves the day. The last advert is for 'Jammie Dodgers' which features
a Spooky T-Shirt offer on special packs of Jammie Dodgers.
As you can see the T-shirt features a ribcage on front and back.
I'll stick some more spooky ads on sometime as soon as I sort them out. Unless you have any yourself that you could possibly send a scan to The Cobwebbed room to be featured for next time.
Thanks to John for the 3 adverts.

'FANTASY FIENDS' movie marks

Here is a great set of bookmarks [this set called movie marks] that feature 5 different monsters in a film strip design. These came out in 1989 and made by Animated Opticals Ltd of london. Each film frame is slightly different as though it is a frame by frame of a movie scene. really nice artwork on these. Monsters featured are Zombie [from Hammer's Plague of the Zombies], Spooks [I don't think from any particuliar film], The Mummy [either Lon Chaney or Tom Tyler], Frankenstein's Monster [Boris Karloff], and Werewolf [Lon Chaney as The wolfman].

'GRIZZLY GROWLER MASK'

Reverse of Mask

Grizzly Growler Mask

Here's an unusual 'Horror Bags' send away item, its a Grizzly Growler Mask that isn't really a mask, just a card picture of Dracula, and on the back it originally contained a spooky record.

Great graphics though. Thanks to John for this contribution.

'HORROR BAGS' Dracula hand puppet ad

Comic ad for Horror Bags Dracula hand puppet

Here for your ghoulish delight is another 'Horror Bags' comic advertisement, this time it is for a Dracula hand puppet, quite delightful; the ad doesn't tell you want the hand puppet is made of, I would guess at stiff card or cloth of somekind. Its certainly something I wouldn't mind owning if I ever find one. Thanks again to John for the contribution.

'CREEPY CLUTCHERS' comic ad

Cover of Buster/Monster Fun which
came with free Frankenstein
Creepy Clutcher

Closer look at Frankenstein Creepy Clutcher

Ad that appeared on back of above issue

Here is a wonderful comic strip advertisment for the Horror Bags 'Creepy Clutchers'. This ad was in a copy of the comic 'Buster/Monster Fun'. I am not sure if the Free Frankenstein Creepy Clutcher was part of the set that could be sent for or was an exclusive to the comic.Thanks to John for this contribution. More to follow.